Closer To Beta Pic
Explanation:
What did
our Solar System look like
as the planets were forming?
Since the 1980s, astronomers have been pointing
toward Beta Pictoris,
a young, sun-like star a mere 50 light-years
distant, as a likely example.
Beta Pic is surrounded by
a disk of dust
which we view nearly edge-on.
The dust disk shines by reflected starlight and has been examined with ever
increasing detail to search
for signs of planetary formation.
The trick is to follow the disk
as close in to the star as possible, without
being overwhelmed by the direct starlight.
To make
this Hubble Space Telescope image, a
coronagraph was used to block the
direct starlight and achieve the closest view yet.
The false color picture shows the inner section of the
dusty disk to within nearly 1.5 billion
miles of the star itself, about the scale of the orbit of Uranus.
The obvious warp is
indirect evidence
that a planet now orbits this
young sun,
slightly inclined to the disk.
The planet's gravitational pull would produce the visible distortion.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
